Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A short review of "How to Survive 2012"

“How to Survive 2012” is the third book in a trilogy of illogical
doom fantasies by Belgian pseudo-scientist Patrick Geryl. Patrick Geryl ,
a self-proclaimed independent researcher, has won over many in the
survivalist movement by playing the part of “master researcher.” He has
done numerous interviews in both English and Dutch discussing the up and
coming “cataclysm” predicted by both the Maya and Ancient Egyptians. In
short, Geryl has perpetuated his fantasy with the help of other
pseudo-scientific writers that have absolutely no scientific knowledge
in any discipline they write about.Geryl begins his “masterpiece” with
his ever so popular “fantasy archaeology” on the first page of the
foreword:

Polar Reversals can be calculated precisely on the basis of the
sunspot cycle theory or the magnetic field theory, which the Maya and
the Old Egyptians were privy to. These secrets are contained in the
Labyrinth of Hawara, a huge complex consisting of three thousand rooms.1

The “Labyrinth” that is referred to in Geryl’s book is the supposed
complex that Herodotus describes in Book II in his work of Histories.
According to Herodotus’ work, the complex was home to knowledge of past
eras and ancient cultures well before the ancient Egyptians. Geryl will
have you believe that evidence of past cataclysms and the artifacts of
the antediluvian society Atlantis were housed in this Labyrinth. What
makes this statement from Geryl special is that he claimed to have
discovered the Labyrinth in Hawara, Egypt. Forget the fact that this
complex that is constantly being referred still has not been officially
been discovered by anyone let alone a pseudo-scientific writer from
Belgium, the complex would have been flooded for a very long time. Geryl
explains later in the book that he had not received permission to dig
at the complex. Fortunately, he and his team are still not allowed to
dig. The Hawara complex, though not officially identified as the
Labyrinth, has even been considered by other Egyptologist as having been
a possible place for the Labyrinth, which makes Geryl’s statement even
more ridiculous. He takes credit for other people’s discoveries and then
bends the facts to fit his theories.
Playing with fantasy is something Geryl does on a regular basis. On
the first page of chapter one, Geryl cites that the magnetic field of
earth has weakened 60% over the past two thousand years. This is an
example of twisting facts and readjusting them to fit your ideas. Even
though magnetic field strength has indeed dropped, it would take
thousands of years for the field strength to be weak enough for a field
reversal to even be possible. This is something that Geryl will not tell
you. In addition, these reversals take thousands of years to happen and
are not related to the physical poles of the earth. This next block
quote should seal the deal on Geryl’s fantasy land work:I took it as my task to rediscover the lost knowledge of these
brilliant scientists. Almost from the beginning of my search I
discovered astronomical numbers and mathematical series that correlated
with each other. Esoteric symbols complemented this connection. They
performed codes impossible to crack for non-insiders, yet I persisted in
finishing my task, unraveling code after code.2
Once again, Geryl takes us on a journey inside his imagination where
he is the protagonist of his story. Throughout the book Geryl refers to
Charles Hapgood, Albert Slosman and other failed pseuo-scientists that
have laid the foundation for Geryl’s off-the-wall ideas. Their work
“inspired” Geryl. What you will find about Geryl is that little to none
of his research comes from legitimate scientific journals, only crackpot
failed ideas that were either dismissed from the start or have since
been replaced by more credible science.